Measuring Drug Activity

Abstract

The development of drugs starts with the recognition that some particular pharmacological effect may be useful therapeutically. Sometimes an application can be seen before there is a compound with the desired properties. Past history often suggests the reverse: several important drugs, such as the sulphonamides, have been made by the chemist years before their therapeutic value was realised. In either situation an initial discovery depends upon both an understanding of what may be useful and upon a knowledge of what drugs do; it requires both the flash of genius and the humdrum collection of pharmacological information.